Umberto I (Italian: Umberto Ranieri Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Eugenio di Savoia; 14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900) was King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination in 1900. His reign saw the creation of the Italian colonial empire and the formation of the Triple Alliance among Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary.
The son of Victor Emmanuel II and Adelaide of Austria, Umberto took part in the Italian Wars of Independence as a commander of the Royal Sardinian Army. He assumed the Italian throne in 1878 on the death of his father. A strong militarist, Umberto approved the alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, which was formalised in 1882. He also encouraged Italy's colonial efforts and oversaw the incorporation of Eritrea and Somalia into the emerging Italian Empire, while the First Italo-Ethiopian War resulted in defeat at the Battle of Adwa.
In the last years of his reign, Umberto faced increasing social unrest and serious economic difficulties. Tensions mounted as a result of growing opposition to new colonial campaigns, the spread of socialism, and crackdowns on civil liberties. Umberto was contested by left-wing circles for his conservatism and particularly for the decorations he gave in 1898 to Bava Beccaris, a general who bloodily suppressed demonstrations over rising food prices in Milan. He was deeply hated by Italian anarchists, who had already attempted to assassinate him during the first year of his reign.
In 1900, two years after the Bava Beccaris massacre, Umberto was killed in Monza by anarchist Gaetano Bresci. He was succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel III. Before his killing, he was also one of the recipients of one of Friedrich Nietzsche's Wahnbriefe notes. The Umbertino architecture style was named after him.
The son of Victor Emmanuel II and Archduchess Adelaide of Austria, Umberto was born in Turin, which was then capital of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, on 14 March 1844, his father's 24th birthday. His education was entrusted to, among others, Massimo Taparelli, Marquess d'Azeglio, and Pasquale Stanislao Mancini. As Crown Prince, Umberto was distrusted by his father, who gave him no training in politics or constitutional government. Umberto was brought up with no affection or love. Instead, Umberto was taught to be obedient and loyal; he had to stand at attention whenever his father entered the room. When speaking to his father, Umberto had to get down on his knees to kiss his father's hand first. The fact that Umberto had to kiss his father's hand before being allowed to speak to him (both in public and in private) right up to his father's death contributed much to the tension between the two.
From March 1858, he had a military career in the Royal Sardinian Army, beginning with the rank of captain. Umberto took part in the Italian Wars of Independence. In the Second War of Italian Independence (1859), Umberto, who was only 14, was present at the battle of Solferino. In the Third War of Italian Independence (1866), Umberto commanded the XVI Division at the Villafranca battle that followed the Italian defeat at Custoza.
Because of the upheaval the House of Savoy caused to a number of other royal houses (all the Italian ones, and those related closely to them, such as the Bourbons of Spain and France) in 1859–1860, only a minority of royal families in the 1860s were willing to establish relations with the newly founded Italian royal family. It proved difficult to find any royal bride for either of the sons of king Victor Emmanuel II (his younger son Amedeo, Umberto's brother, married a Piedmontese subject, princess Vittoria of Cisterna). Their conflict with the papacy did not help these matters. Not many eligible Catholic royal brides were easily available for young Umberto.
At first, Umberto was to marry Archduchess Mathilde of Austria, a scion of a remote sideline of the Austrian imperial house; however, she died as the result of an accident at the age of 18. On 21 April 1868, Umberto married his first cousin, Margherita Teresa Giovanna, Princess of Savoy. Their only son was Victor Emmanuel, prince of Naples. While Umberto was to be described by a modern historian as "a colourless and physically unimpressive man, of limited intellect", Margherita's appearance, cultural interests and strong personality were to enhance the popularity of the monarchy. Umberto kept many mistresses on the side, and his favourite mistress, Eugenia, the wife of Duke Litta Visconti-Arese, lived with him at his court as his common-law wife. He forced Queen Margherita to accept Eugenia as a lady-in-waiting.
In 1876, when the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Salisbury, visited Rome, he reported to London that King Victor Emmanuel II and Crown Prince Umberto were "at war with each other". Upon taking the Crown, Umberto dismissed all of his father's friends from the court, sold off his father's racing horse collection (which numbered 1,000 horses) and cut down on extravagances to pay down the debts Victor Emmanuel II had run up. The British historian Denis Mack Smith commented that it was a sign of the great wealth of the House of Savoy that Umberto was able to pay off his father's debts without having to ask parliament for assistance.
Like his father, Umberto was a poorly educated man without intellectual or artistic interests, never read any books, and preferred to dictate rather than write letters. He found writing to be too mentally taxing. He was said to have been raised with no real plan and was even uncomfortable when writing his signature in front of onlookers. After meeting him, Queen Victoria described Umberto as having his father's "gruff, abrupt manner of speaking", but without his "rough speech and manners". In contrast, Queen Margherita was widely read in all the classics of European literature, and kept up a salon of intellectuals. Although French was her first language, Margherita was often praised for her beautiful Italian in her letters and when speaking.
Accession to the throne and first assassination attempt
Ascending the throne on the death of his father (9 January 1878), Umberto adopted the title "Umberto I of Italy" rather than "Umberto IV" (of Savoy), ignoring his three ancestral namesakes, Umberto I, Umberto II, and Umberto III. He consented that the remains of his father should be interred at Rome in the Pantheon, rather than the royal mausoleum of the Basilica of Superga. While on a tour of the kingdom, accompanied by Queen Margherita and the Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli, he was attacked with a dagger by an anarchist, Giovanni Passannante, during a parade in Naples on 17 November 1878. The King warded off the blow with his sabre, but Cairoli, in attempting to defend him, was severely wounded in the thigh. The would-be assassin was condemned to death. The King commuted the sentence to one of penal servitude for life, which was served in a cell only 1.4 meters (4 ft 7 in) high, without sanitation and with 18 kilograms (40 lb) of chains. Passannante would die three decades later in a psychiatric institution.
In foreign policy, Umberto I approved the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and the German Empire, repeatedly visiting Vienna and Berlin. Many in Italy, however, viewed with hostility an alliance with their former Austrian enemies, who were still occupying areas claimed by Italy. The Alliance was later renewed with the addition of commercial treaties. A strong militarist, Umberto loved Prussian-German militarism. On his visits to Germany, his favourite activity was to review the Prussian Army and he was greatly honoured to be allowed to lead a Prussian hussar regiment on field manoeuvres outside of Frankfurt. Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany told him during one visit that he should strengthen the Regio Esercito to the point that he could abolish parliament and rule Italy as a dictator.
A major criticism of the policies carried out by the Prime Ministers appointed by Umberto was the continued power of organized crime in the Mezzogiorno (Southern Italy), with the Mafia dominating Sicily and the Camorra dominating Campania. Both the Mafia and the Camorra functioned as "parallel states" whose existence and power was tolerated by successive governments in Rome as both the Mafia and the Camorra engaged in electoral fraud and voter intimidation so effective that it was Mafia and Camorra bosses who decided who won elections. As it was impossible to win elections in the Mezzogiorno without the support of organized crime, politicians cut deals with the bosses of the Camorra and Mafia to exchange toleration of their criminal activities for votes. The Mezzogiorno was the most backward region of Italy with high levels of poverty, emigration and an illiteracy rate estimated as high as 70%. The deputies from the Mezzogiorno always voted against more schools for the Mezzogiorno, thus perpetuating southern nescience and privation as both the Mafia and the Camorra were opposed to any sort of social reform that might threaten their power. However, the king preferred heavy military spending rather than engaging in social reforms and every year, the Italian state spent 10 times more money on the military than on education. Umberto, an aggressive proponent of militarism, once said that to accept cuts in the military budget would be "an abject scandal and we might as well give up politics altogether". At least part of the reason why Umberto was so opposed to cutting the military budget was because he personally promised Emperor Wilhelm II that Italy would send five army corps to Germany in the event of a war with France, a promise that the king did not see fit to share with his prime ministers.